| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: wife's hair, and she glanced up, happy and somewhat surprised.
CHAPTER VII
I
HE solemnly finished the last copy of the American Magazine, while his wife
sighed, laid away her darning, and looked enviously at the lingerie designs in
a women's magazine. The room was very still.
It was a room which observed the best Floral Heights standards. The gray walls
were divided into artificial paneling by strips of white-enameled pine. From
the Babbitts' former house had come two much-carved rocking-chairs, but the
other chairs were new, very deep and restful, upholstered in blue and
gold-striped velvet. A blue velvet davenport faced the fireplace, and behind
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: be. That, strange to say, was exasperating, too. It was as if
some idea, some fruitful notion had killed in her all the softer
and more humane emotions. She went about with brooms and dusters
wearing an air of sanctimonious thoughtfulness.
The man who to a certain extent took my place in Therese's favour
was the old father of the dancing girls inhabiting the ground
floor. In a tall hat and a well-to-do dark blue overcoat he
allowed himself to be button-holed in the hall by Therese who would
talk to him interminably with downcast eyes. He smiled gravely
down at her, and meanwhile tried to edge towards the front door. I
imagine he didn't put a great value on Therese's favour. Our stay
 The Arrow of Gold |